UK: Sun, Mail and Rusbridger align as industry unites against Official Secrets Act reforms

Press Gazette: Former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger has argued reforms to the Official Secrets Act would mean a future Edward Snowden-style whistleblower would be forced to avoid mainstream UK publications to spill secrets. Instead they would avoid fears of stricter sentences for publication in the public interest by sharing information with a foreign title or website or putting it online themselves, he said in his submission to Government. His stance puts him in rare agreement with the likes of the The Sun as the industry unites against the proposed reforms in fear they…Read more

UK journalists could be jailed like spies under proposed Official Secrets Act changes

Press Gazette: Journalists could be treated like spies for reporting on matters of public interest under planned reforms to the UK’s Official Secrets Act. The move has caused alarm at a time when press freedom is seen as being under attack in the UK following the raid by the Information Commissioner to find The Sun’s Matt Hancock-scoop source. Yesterday, it was revealed that foreign governments are targeting UK journalists with mobile phone spyware. The Government said the reform was needed as the existing acts, with the last update in 1989, are no longer enough to…Read more

Ghana politician calls for journalist Erastus Asare Donkor to be beaten over protest coverage

Ghanaian authorities should ensure the safety of journalist Erastus Asare Donkor and hold politician Kennedy Ohene Agyapong to account for instigating attacks against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In an appearance on the Net 2 TV broadcaster on July 9, Agyapong, a member of Ghana’s parliament with the ruling New Patriotic Party, accused Donkor, a reporter with Joy FM, of reporting falsehoods and said he “should be beaten seriously.” Agyapong also said in that broadcast that, if he was president, “I would get people to beat him up.” Agyapong’s family owns Net…Read more

Malawi police beat, detain radio reporter Oliver Malibisa

Malawi authorities should ensure journalists can report without fear of violence, harassment, or detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On the morning of June 30, police officers beat and briefly detained Oliver Malibisa, a reporter with the local Likoma Community Radio broadcaster, as he tried to cover a student demonstration at Likoma Secondary School in central Malawi, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, and news reports. “The assault and detention of journalist Oliver Malibisa by Malawi police was an attack on press freedom, and impunity for such…Read more

Sri Lankan anti-terror authorities interrogate journalist Selvakumar Nilanthan

Sri Lankan authorities should stop harassing journalist Selvakumar Nilanthan and halt any further efforts to interrogate him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 12, officers with the Batticaloa district’s Terrorism Investigation Division, a branch of the Sri Lankan police, interrogated Nilanthan, a freelance Tamil journalist and the secretary of the Batticaloa District Tamil Journalists Association, a local press freedom group, for about three hours, according to the Tamil Guardian, a copy of authorities’ July 10 summons to the journalist, and a tweet by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, a local human rights group. Officers…Read more

Uttar Pradesh police open criminal investigations into 3 Indian journalists

Authorities in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh must immediately drop their criminal investigations into journalists Nidhi Suresh, Manoj Shukla, and Yashwant Singh, and cease harassing members of the press over their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 4, police in the state’s Shahjahanpur district launched criminal defamation investigations into Suresh, a reporter at the news website Newslaundry, as well as Shukla, a reporter, and Singh, an editor, both at the news website Bhadas4Media, according to The Wire and Suresh, who spoke to CPJ over the phone. The investigations stem from a criminal…Read more

Pakistan journalist Nadeem Malik summoned over political reporting

Pakistan authorities should cease harassing journalist Nadeem Malik and refrain from summoning him over his work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 2, the counterterrorism wing of the Federal Investigation Agency issued a summons to Malik to appear for questioning today, according to news reports, the journalist, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview, and a copy of the summons, which CPJ reviewed. The summons states that authorities seek to question Malik, the president of the privately owned news channel Samaa TV, about an April 28 segment of the Nadeem…Read more

Indian journalist Pateshwari Singh assaulted after critical coverage of Uttar Pradesh politician

Authorities in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh must conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the assault of journalist Pateshwari Singh and ensure that those responsible are held to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 7:30 p.m. on the evening of June 29, a black SUV hit Singh from behind while he was driving his motorcycle in the Uttar Pradesh city of Ayodhya; five or six men then exited the vehicle and beat Singh with batons and iron rods, threw both of his cellphones to the ground, and…Read more

Zambia’s broadcasting regulator threatens to revoke Muvi TV’s license

Zambia’s broadcasting regulator, the Independent Broadcasting Authority, must stop harassing private broadcaster Muvi TV and should publicly reaffirm the editorial independence of media outlets ahead of the August 12 general elections, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.  On May 28, the IBA found Muvi TV guilty of professional misconduct in violation of the IBA [Amendment] Act of 2010, a law regulating the broadcasting industry, after the outlet aired interviews with opposition politicians on May 16 and April 30, according to a statement issued by IBA, which CPJ reviewed; Mabvuto Phiri, Muvi TV’s director of news and…Read more

Indian journalist Sulabh Srivastava dies 1 day after filing complaint over threats

Authorities in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh must conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the death of journalist Sulabh Srivastava, and ensure that those responsible are brought to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.Unexplained On the evening of June 13, Srivastava, a reporter with the privately owned broadcasters ABP News and ABP Ganga, was declared dead at a hospital in Pratapgarh district, shortly after local laborers found his body near a brick kiln, according to news reports. Police initially said that he died in a motorcycle accident on his way home…Read more